The state's largest private employer, Intel Corp., and the managers of its biggest investment portfolio, the state's employee retirement fund, find themselves on a collision course over an arcane but controversial accounting practice. At issue is the claiming of employee stock options as corporate expenses, a practice that is widely blamed for inflating the high-tech bubble of the late '90s and that ultimately led, economists say, to the sharp economic downturn and the spiraling unemployment that has hit Oregon particularly hard for the last two years.
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